BREAKFAST CEREALS AND CHOLESTEROL
Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are tasty and convenient, but a lot of them are far from “healthy,” according to Consumer Reports (CR) (51#10:628). Although their basic ingredients, such as corn, wheat, oats, raisins, and nuts are nutritious, many breakfast cereals contain excessive and potentially harmful amounts of saturated fat (i.e., in the form of coconut oil) and salt, which the manufacturers have added to make them more tasty and appealing.
Now, CR reports that the popular Quaker 100% Natural Cereal, because of its coconut content, provides an astonishing amount of saturated fat (the sort than can be responsible for high blood cholesterol levels, heart attacks, and strokes). The CR article also points out that most fiber and bran-containing ready-to-eat cereals provide salt or sugar (or both) in large amounts.
Fiber and bran products have become very popular since they have been shown to help fight constipation and cholesterol and to reduce the chance of our getting colon cancer. It is a pity, therefore, that these products should contain added salt, sugar, or fat in such large amounts.
With very little effort, however, we can prepare a high fiber cereal for ourselves that contains the most desirable water-soluble kind fiber, but no additives. Just boil water and stir in some powdered oat bran. This hot cereal will be free of sugar, salt, and fat, unless you add them to it yourself.
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